The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
A fluid heater may be in the form of a cartridge heater, which has a rod configuration to heat fluid that flows along or past an exterior surface of the cartridge heater. The cartridge heater may be disposed inside a heat exchanger for heating the fluid flowing through the heat exchanger. If the cartridge heater is not properly sealed, moisture and fluid may enter the cartridge heater to contaminate the insulation material that electrically insulates a resistive heating element from the metal sheath of the cartridge heater, resulting in dielectric breakdown and consequently heater failure. The moisture can also cause short circuiting between power conductors and the outer metal sheath. The failure of the cartridge heater may cause costly downtime of the apparatus that uses the cartridge heater.
Further, during operation, some heaters may experience “current leakage,” which is generally the flow of current through to a ground. The current leaks by way of insulation surrounding conductors in electrical heaters and this condition can cause a rise in voltage and over-heating.